Comprehensive Young People’s Agricultural Entrepreneurship Development Programme

In order to foster agricultural entrepreneurship among young people, the Piraeus Bank Group is running an innovative programme aimed at young people aged up to 35 who wish to become involved in business in the agricultural sector, by adopting responsible farming and sustainable business practices.

In May 2013 the Bank announced its Comprehensive Young People’s Agricultural Entrepreneurship Development Programme, which offers participants all the tools they need to grow and develop their farming business. The Programme provides a total of 500 hectares of farming land to participants, as well as the necessary farming and business training, financing for setting up their business and guaranteed markets for their produce for the first 3 years. It also includes advice from the Group’s experts on agronomic and financial issues.

The programme is being run by Excelixi SA Sustainable Entrepreneurship Centre, a member of the Piraeus Bank Group that offers advisory and training services and is a certified Life-Long Learning Centre.

Programme objectives

The purpose of the Comprehensive Young People’s Agricultural Entrepreneurship Development Programme is to establish a group of young farmers/businessmen and support them in setting up sustainable farms using proper environmental practices.

Programme phases

Nationwide, 1,765 applications were submitted online.

After round one of evaluation was completed, the 366 top scorers, based on the points awarded from their online applications, underwent further evaluation using a structured interview.

After this evaluation, the preferences of candidates in terms of crops and the areas where the Group had land available were matched to each other. This process continued until all available farming land had been allocated.

The first group of participants completed their training in mid-December 2013 and are currently drawing up their business plans.

The young farmers who successfully complete the programme will receive aid from specially designed financing instruments to cover set-up costs and machinery, agricultural supplies, seeds or seedlings. The Group will also ensure that all their agricultural produce for the first 3 years will be purchased, and will also provide advisory services and practical guidelines about how to implement their business plan.